Armed militants attacked a construction workers’ camp near the resort town of Sonamarg in Indian-administered Kashmir on Sunday night, October 20, 2024, killing seven people and wounding five others in one of the deadliest assaults on an infrastructure project in the region.
The attackers targeted workers in the Z-Morh tunnel project, a 4-mile-long construction designed to provide year-round connectivity to the strategically important Ladakh region, which borders China and Pakistan. At least two armed militants fired at the camp, killing two people instantly. Five others died later at the hospital.
Among the dead was a doctor who had recently returned from his daughter’s wedding, as well as a tunnel designer who had been planning to return home for Diwali. Additionally, two painters from Bihar state, who had relocated to Kashmir for employment, were also killed in the attack.
India’s Interior Minister Amit Shah condemned the violence, stating on “X” that those behind the attack “will not be spared and will face the harshest response from our security forces.” Militants fighting for decades against Indian rule over the area were blamed.
The Resistance Front (TRF), an offshoot of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba, claimed responsibility for the attack. Sheikh Sajjad Gul, TRF’s chief, is suspected to be the mastermind, with his group’s local module carrying out the assault. The attackers left behind an INSAS rifle and burned two vehicles belonging to the construction company.
The Union Ministry of Home Affairs has transferred the investigation to the National Investigation Agency. Police and military reinforcements have cordoned off the area and launched search operations.
This marks the second attack on non-local workers since Kashmir’s new government was sworn in last week. On Friday, authorities discovered the body of a worker from Bihar state in Kashmir’s Shopian district. The violence also follows two separate militant attacks in July that killed nine soldiers.
The Z-Morh tunnel is considered a strategic asset. It connects the regional capital Srinagar to Ladakh, where India faces border disputes with Pakistan and China. Hundreds of non-local laborers are working on this ambitious project.